Letters

The Metropolitan police have been engulfed by scandal (Pic: Guy Smallman)

Racist cops no surprise for young black people

The Metropolitan Police has always been institutionally racist. I first encountered them when I was stopped and searched at the age of nine, just yards from my family home.

Three tall white male officers ran up and boxed me in against the wall of a shop. Dozens of people were inside watching. My heart felt as if it was going to explode.

All I could think was that I was going to be arrested for something I hadn’t done. They told me that 'there are a lot of thieves in this area and you looked very suspicious and nervous, so we need to check your details'.

I wasn’t given any receipts, and I didn't know what would happen with the details I had given.

From there my encounters with the police only got worse. One evening as a teenager I was sitting on a bench with some friends when two police vans mounted the pavement.

Ten big white male officers jumped out and launched themselves at us. I was knocked over, and when I staggered back up, a forearm strike to the throat forced me back against the wall to be searched. They screamed abuse at us.

My friends were dazed and winded. An officer rammed their heads into the wall. One of them had an officer’s hand around his throat, on the pretext that he was “resisting arrest” by curling over for air.

They even attempted to arrest one of my friends, claiming that the fluff from his jacket was cocaine. No slips were given. We were told to 'fuck off, and if you say anything we’ll find you black boy'.

That night we realised that no matter what we did, where we were and what we wore, the colour of our skin made us a target for the police. I have now been stopped at least 20 times, always with aggression and racist abuse.

So when it emerges in the media that the police have been caught being racist, none of my friends are surprised.

What is clear among young black and Asian people is that it happens every single day.

Arnie Joahill, West London

Police brutality opened our eyes

I hope the penny is starting to drop about the police. That's what happened for many miners during our strike in 1984–85.

I’d already had a truncheon on my neck, and that’s a great educator. But most miners would have said that the police did a good job. They lived under that illusion because they'd had very little contact with the police.

At the start there was a bit of laughing and joking with the police on the picket line—until they got some experience of being pushed around.

It was when a few heads had been cracked that people began to see the police for what they are. Having your windscreen smashed in on your car is a real wake-up call too.

It made miners question their own attitudes to black and Asian people.

When you’re in trouble, and you see other people in trouble, you make links. People on the receiving end of state repression became our comrades.

It worked wonders as an education. It’s been the same for students more recently and people on anti-fascist protests.

I wouldn’t trust a copper as far as I could throw him. If anyone wants to argue against that now, they should see what they say once they’ve got a taste of his truncheon.

Steve Hammill, Crewe

Women have the right to decide

Jenny Bloom (It’s not bigoted to say abortion is last resort, Letters, 7 April) says she is not a “bigot” and that legal and safe abortion should be available for those women who find themselves in a desperate situation.

However, she regards abortion as “harming one human being for the sake of another”.

This language is characteristic of the bigotry of the churches and anti abortionists, who always describe the choice of abortion as selfish, immoral and casual.

That’s what bigotry is—the denigration of women’s choices, reducing women to the status of irresponsible children.

Emma Hall, North London

Labour looks to Murdoch

The Murdoch press seems intent on punishing the Tories for not keeping the lid on the hacking scandal.

The Sunday Times dealt the government a devastating blow with its 'cash for access' revelations. The Sun has ferociously condemned Osborne’s budget as a budget for the rich.

In the most blatant way possible, Murdoch is showing the politicians what he can do to them if they cross him.

And what is the Labour Party response to this? Ed Balls has had an article in the Sun condemning the budget.

Murdoch is warning the Tories that if they are not careful, the next general election might well see the Murdoch press backing Labour once again.

And despite everything that has happened over the past months, after all the revelations of criminality and corruption, the Labour leadership are still prepared to embrace the Sun.

If ever there was a time to finish Murdoch once and for all, now is it. Once again, Labour is half-hearted, compromised and not sure what side it is on and the danger is that the opportunity will be let slip.

John Newsinger, Leicester

Syrians support uprising

Around 300 Syrians and supporters from across Scotland gathered in Glasgow recently for a fundraiser in solidarity with the revolution.

Many had long track records of opposing the Western powers’ illegal and immoral wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There was a powerful photo and film exhibition depicting the vicious repression by Bashar al-Assad’s regime—as well as the mass resistance of ordinary Syrians.

Those who spoke highlighted the need to build solidarity and support for the revolution. At no point were there any calls for Western military intervention in Syria.